Roaming in League of Legends

Since the World Championships have ended, there has been a dramatic increase in roaming from almost all lanes without laning for the first few levels. I have seen this work and completely fail and after careful observing and various forms of trial and error, i have run into many different working variations for roaming effectively.

How It Is Done

There are a two main variations of roaming, Jungle roaming and Lane roaming. Now any lane can do Lane roaming, it is quite simple. Jungle Roaming takes a certain type of champion to do and can be very hit or miss. We can break down these two to give everyone a better understanding of how they work.

Lane Roaming

Lane roaming has been a very popular mid lane tactic for quite a long time. The idea is simple, when you are sure you have a lead in lane or your lane opponent is missing, go gank another lane or help invade the jungle and secure objectives. Sounds simple but there is more to it than that. Timing is a very important thing when Lane roaming. Watch the lanes and the minion waves, if you miss a good opportunity to gank then you may just miss a big wave of experience and gold for nothing.

Also, it will be very difficult to complete a successful gank without some form of crowd control (or CC) to be able to pin down the enemy. Making sure that you are winning your lane or at least even helps as well. If you are behind and your roam goes wrong you can fall very far behind and perhaps not be able to catch up. Being at least 10 cs ahead can ensure that your opponent does not get so far ahead and getting a kill helping another lane snowball is always worth the wave of creeps that you miss

Jungle Roam

This tactic generally begins in the early game. The support will accompany the jungler and prevent them from taking damage as much as possible while also providing hard CC for powerful ganks. Mid lane can do this as well around the mid game to capture objectives and counter jungle as much as possible. The overall goal for this tactic is to provide a snowball very early and end the game as early as possible. 

Champions

Only a select breed of Champions can roam in this way and still be able to come back into the game. They must not rely on an early game snowball to do well, have some form of hard CC (preferably a stun), and it helps to be very mobile. Some examples are..

Taric

As displayed by our very own team, Taric is a very good roamer. Being a support Taric does not need the early levels or any early gold to contribute to the team later on. Roaming with Taric is quite easily done. His stun provides great ganking potential allowing for an early snowball for any lane. His healing and armor buff gives the jungler high sustain which gives them the opportunity to counter jungle and possibly kill the opposing jungler. Overall Taric is the best champion for early jungle roaming.

Lulu

At first look Lulu may not seem like a very good choice but, with her utility, she can make some very good ganks happen. Lulu's slow and silence can lock down an opponent so the jungler can secure the kill before the opponent can even Flash to safety. Her attack buff can also help with fast clear times and she is a very good savior at level 6. 

Zyra

While Zyra is not played very often anymore, she is a great threat to the enemy jungle. Around the mid game Zyra can accompany the jungle into the enemy camps for fast counter jungling and can snare the enemy jungler for a quick kill and even possibly use her ultimate in the event that a Flash is used. Her high damage provides a scary presence for jungle roaming.

Ahri

Ahri has always been known as a great roamer. She can push waves very hard and has very high mobility to get in and out of the lanes quickly. Ahri's Charm and her Ultimate provide for scary ganks and virtually no escape. Leaving the lane when it is pushed can give you the chance to leave and gank for an early or mid game snowball. 

Olaf

Olaf is not only a great top laner and jungler, he is great for helping the jungle and allowing for quick counter jungle. Leaving lane to gank is also very effective since he essentially has a permanent slow. If you can keep hitting his Q then the opponent is not going to get away. Taking Ghost on Olaf also provides an extra form of chase to secure kills and provide the snowball. 

In the end always remember to keep an eye out for potential ganks to keep up the snowball. Any early advantage keeps you ahead of the game and allows you to close out a game in a short period of time preventing any chance of the enemy team coming back into the game.

 

I hope this helps!

-Oshera